Half an hour later I sat back in the car with Damien on the way to my parent’s house where I had been living ever since Celia moved out of our apartment which we had given up shortly thereafter. This way it was just cheaper, and the house was closer to the hospital as well.

I still couldn’t believe this would be my last day in Pittsburgh, at least for a while.

Damien had insisted on leaving today already and because my car was still at the park he had to drive me home so I could get the most important things like our documents and ID’s, the paperwork from the hospital, some money and clothes for the first few days.

We had moved out of the apartment weeks ago, but I still hadn’t unpacked everything because I had been so busy.

Damien had said that he would have someone bring all the other stuff to New York by next week.

Everything was happening so fast. I hadn’t even had time to think about everything yet. I needed to tell Celia and Derek, and my parents too!

What would they say if they came back in a couple of months and I would be gone?

I didn’t have time to worry any longer because we turned onto the road my parents’ house was on.

“This one.”, I said, and Damien parked the car across the street from the big white house. It wasn’t a mansion, but it was a nice house. It was my home.

Damien raised an eyebrow.

“Is that your house?”, he asked, and I shook my head. “No, it is my parent’s house. I couldn’t pay the rent for the apartment I lived in anymore, so I moved in here.

“And where are your parents? Why didn’t they help you out with the money?”

He sounded almost patronizing and I clenched my jaw, because of his tone, but also because this was one of the questions I had been afraid of. For a moment I didn’t say anything, then I sighed.

“They are on a world trip, in Italy right now, I think. They had been planning to go ever since they got married. They worked really hard for it, even when they had to help me with Charlie. They left a couple of weeks before Charlie got diagnosed.

It is good for them to be away from all of this. They deserve to be happy.”

Damien exhaled loudly.

“Are you saying that your parents don’t know about the brain tumor?”, he asked in disbelief and I shook my head with a blank expression on my face while I stared outside the window, avoiding Damien’s look.

“But you said your father was a doctor!” He stared at me like I was crazy and maybe I was.

But I had my reasons.

“I can’t put them through this. Not again.”, I said and did everything to keep my expression emotionless but even I could hear the pain and sorrow in my voice.

“What do you mean… Again?”

I swallowed hard to get rid of the lump in my throat, but it didn’t help.

“I am an only child but that wasn’t always the case, you know? I had an older sister, Lainey. She was amazing, she was smart, pretty, popular, funny, and sweet. She was my best friend but when she was 16 she got diagnosed with cancer. Brain and spinal cord tumor, the same kind Charlie has. The diagnosis came way too late and there was nothing the doctors could do because the tumor had already spread to other organs. She died within a year. Charlie got diagnosed really early but this- This would kill my parents. I can’t tell them.”, my voice was choked with emotions and I still didn’t dare to look at Damien.

It had been a while since I had told this story to anyone and even though her death was more than 12 years ago, it still hurt to talk about her, and I felt my eyes burning.

“I am so sorry. I had no idea.”, Damien said after a few seconds, and he sounded sincere. I nodded but I didn’t look at him. Instead I kept looking outside.

The sky had cleared up a little but there was a good chance it was still going to rain in the afternoon.

And then I saw it. A big, black truck was parked on the other side of the road, close to our house.

None of our neighbors owned a car like that, of that, I was sure. My heart dropped and I felt my face paling. As if this day hadn’t already been bad enough.

“I am going to grab our things really quick. I will be right back.”, I said and stumbled out of the car.

Why would he come back?

I had told him I would call the cops on him if he was ever to bother us again. I slammed the car door shut and forced myself to walk around the car into the direction of our house even though every single cell in me seemed to want to run in the opposite direction. Damien opened the door and grabbed my hand.

“Ally, I am sorry I didn’t mean to upset you.”, he said but I shook my head and forced myself to smile.

“It’s okay. You didn’t upset me. Just wait for me here. I promise it will only be a minute.”

I was too scared and confused to even realize that he suddenly seemed to play nice again. I pulled my hand back and turned around, not giving Damien a choice to respond. My hands were shaking so bad, that it took me a couple of seconds to put the key in the lock and another couple of seconds to realize that the door was unlocked already.

I had a really bad feeling about this, but I opened the door anyway and stepped in, shutting the door behind me.

“Hello?”, I asked. My voice was trembling. I stepped into the large living room and let out a loud shriek when I heard Malcolm’s voice behind me.

He leaned right next to the entrance against the wall.

“I was wondering when you were going to show up here.”

Malcolm laughed while my heart was pounding loudly against my chest.

“You know, I was in the hospital too earlier. I talked to Charlie. He wasn’t very happy to see me but you weren’t there anyway so I figured I would make use of the fact that you gave me a key to your house.”

He held up the key I had given him, and I took a step forward.

“You have absolutely no right to be here, Malcolm. Give me the key and then leave.”, I said, and I was surprised how loud and confident I sounded.

He laughed again and I stared at him while I tried to put all the hatred and anger in the gaze, I shot him.

Why couldn’t he just leave me alone?

And how had I ever thought that his harsh but somehow cackling laughter was attractive?

I should have listened to Celia; she had never liked him that much. But I had just loved that he had seemed so normal.

Just a nice, cute guy that helped me out with my sick son because he was truly a good person, and not some obsessive psychopath.

Somehow I always picked the wrong guys. The only good thing that had ever come out of any relationship I had with guys, was Charlie.

“Baby, I told you I was sorry. Can’t we just forget everything that happened. It is going to be just you and me again.”, he suggested smiling, and I wanted punch him.

“Can’t you see that we are better off without you?”, I asked, desperate, but Malcolm shook his head.

“No. No, you don’t mean that.”, he claimed and took a step forward while I took two backwards.

“I do mean it, Malcolm. I am telling you; I will call the police if you don’t leave now. Don’t you remember? You beat me up. I had to go to the hospital!”, I yelled, and he grimaced.

“I know. And I told you it will not happen again. I promise.”, he came closer. He was insane. Absolutely crazy. How could I not have seen the madness in his eyes before?

I looked outside the window. Damien was still sitting in the car, waiting for me and somehow that gave me a little comfort. Malcolm followed my gaze and his face expression hardened.

“Who is that?”, he frowned, and I flinched.

“No one.”, I said quickly. A little too quickly. Malcolm growled loudly and grabbed my arm. I wanted to pull back, but he was to strong. He pulled me into the back of the room where the kitchen was and where Damien couldn’t see us anymore.

Okay, this was not good. At all.

“I am going to ask you one last time. Who the hell is that guy outside the house?”

I was scared to death but this time I wouldn’t let him speak to me like that.

“None of your business.”, I said and pulled my eyebrows together fiercely but before I had even seen him raise his hand, he had already slapped me in the face. I yelped in pain. He let go of me and I stumbled back against the fridge.

“Who is he?”, he asked again, and all humanity seemed to have left him.

“He is a friend.”, I finally said between gritted teeth and he punched me in the stomach. I gasped loudly while all the air got pressed out of my lungs. Pain exploded and I could have sworn I heard my ribcage cracking.

“Don’t lie to me! You are sleeping with him, admit it! You are such a whore!”, he screamed and punched me again.

My legs gave out beneath me and I sank down to the floor, holding my arms above my head, trying to protect myself, but it was useless. He kicked me in the side and again I wasn’t able to breathe for a few seconds and I choked.

“Look at me!”, he yelled, and I slowly looked up to him, tears streaming down my face. I was gasping for air.

“Please, I swear I am not sleeping with him, he is just a friend.”, I tried again and for a second I thought he might listen to me but then he grabbed my hair and pulled me up. I screamed and it felt like my entire scalp was on fire while he dragged me through the kitchen.

“Stop, Malcolm, please!”, I cried out, but he ignored me. “You don’t deserve me. But you are mine, mine! Do you understand?”, growled and I sobbed.

“Malcolm, I am not yours. You need to understand that, please, you need help-” He let my hair go, just to strike out and punch me in the face, this time with even more force and I stumbled back and fell and hit my head on the kitchen island and then I slammed on the floor.